My Fuji X100V Has Reinvigorated A Love Of Photography

I’m a camera slut. I admit it. I’ve gone through more cameras than any 10 of you reading this. And I have experienced deep love for several of the cameras I’ve owned.

My gear requirements have changed through the years, depending on the kind of work I was doing…i.e., bird photography requires tracking autofocus, long lenses, etc. The work I am doing now does not.

When I retired and took up product and toy photography. My needs changed again. I found an excuse to use my Fuji X100. Yes — I had an X100 even though I wasn’t using it because during my time as an Olympus Visionary it wasn’t appropriate. But I had it. I played with it in my house. I used it for fun projects but rarely. When the pandemic hit and I resigned from my status as an Olympus Visionary, I used the X100V for product photography. It was one of the cameras I used while photographing my guitar collection during the pandemic. In the course of that experience I started realizing just how special the X100V really is.

While there are standout cameras from my past (Hasselblad XPan, Canon 1D MK II, Olympus OM-D E-M1 MK II) no camera — not one — has moved me and spoken to me and excited me more than the Fuji X100V. As someone with 50 years of photography experience (yes I am THAT old) I have to say I have a great deal of experience with all the best cameras. But the X100V has actually done something none of those really could. It’s caused me to fall deeper in love with photography.

I also think (given how well the camera is selling — try to find one — good luck) that it has impacted many people like it has me. Smart phone cameras are very good and they have taken the place of “real cameras” for the vast majority of people. But a camera like the X100V is so good, that it might get people to look at “real cameras” again. I know it did me. I spent last year just using my iPhone camera and I did have a lot of fun with it. But the X100V is taking fun to a whole new level.

I know I am gushing and yes I am happy to wear the moniker FANBOY! Big time. Lay it on me. I am so far down the rabbit hole with this camera that I don’t even care if I am ridiculed.

The X100V is not only a great photography tool, it’s just plain sexy to look at and to hold. I have NEVER been one to care much about what a camera looks like. I’ve been the guy who just cares about the images that come from the camera. I’ve even occasionally made fun of people who buy Leica special editions because those are cameras that cost way too much money and then way too much more because of their looks.

But as I’ve spent several months with the X100V in my hand — every day — I now get it. I now understand why people are drawn to this camera’s aesthetics. This one does it for me. While I am quoting directly from Fuji’s marketing materials I am doing this because I cannot say it any better.

“The X100V’s timeless body has top and bottom plates milled from single pieces of aluminum, which results in a refined and classic camera body with clean, attractive edges. Finished with a beautiful satin coating, the X100V is a perfect combination of design and engineering that is sure to make photographers of any level joyful as they make their images.”

I agree. But of course, I still need a camera that works and works well. Fortunately, the X100V isn’t just a good looking camera — it’s a great camera to use.

The fixed 35mm (EFL) lens is incredible. It’s almost the perfect focal length. It’s very flexible and using the Digital Teleconverter (read my article here —) you can deploy this fixed lens as if it had three different focal lengths.* I know some of you think that a fixed lens camera is too limiting. All I can say is that for me, it’s empowering; Especially the lens on the X100V. It’s new and it’s best in class.

I have owned every iteration of the X100 — all five models — and the weakest link for me in the past was the lens. Not because of its focal length, but because it was soft when you opened up the aperture to f/2 and also soft when working at close distances. I am a stickler for great image quality. While I really liked all those older versions of the X100, my feeling went from like to love when I saw how much improved the lens is on the V.

The new lens is sharp edge-to-edge, wide open or stopped all the way down. What’s more, it just has great character. Lens character is something that is very hard to describe or explain but when you get as much photo experience under your belt as I have — you notice the character of the lens. This goes beyond charts and graphs and enters into the feelings category. For me, and many like me, the combination of this new lens with the new sensor Fuji uses in the V — works. It works very well. I think it works as good or better than any lens/sensor combo I have ever used. (Note: If you’re the kind of photographer who spends hours looking for and at graphs that purport to show the sharpness, etc. of a lens — you are probably not interested in lens character. But I am so I mentioned it.)

I love so many things about this camera. I love the rangefinder styling. I love the leaf shutter. I love the optical viewfinder. I think the electronic viewfinder is great too but there’s something about an old school optical viewfinder that punches my ticket. And then there’s the analog controls on the X100V. It’s really the thing that first attracted me to this camera way back in 2011 when the X100 launch version was announced. The use of dials for ISO, exposure compensation and shutter speed are OLD SCHOOL — just like me. It’s an approach that just resonates with me. I spent most of my life using cameras that had these types of controls and missed them when I first switched to digital. Now I don’t have to compromise. There is also an actual aperture ring that you can twist to set your aperture. This is like the cameras I grew up with. I always missed this feature when I switched to digital cameras and I am super happy to have it back.

All these features culminate in a device that inspires me to be creative. I wake up excited to go grab the X100V and I look forward to using it the way I used to look forward to driving race cars when I was a kid.

There’s this breathtaking and novel design I’ve talked about but its paired with amazing technology. The ability to deliver in-camera JPEGS that match or mirror film is soooooooo cool. The color science that Fuji is known for is here in the X100V. There are 17 digital film simulations built in and they are fantastic. They can be customized to a nearly unlimited subset of color and black and white film stocks that we all know and love. The colors from this camera are better than anything I can create in post using Photoshop. I love being able to SEE the colors in the viewfinder that match what the camera delivers.

This camera is also fun to use because it has all the modern features photographers want — like a tilting LCD screen, better than expected video capability and for a large portion of today’s photographers — low-light performance that is the best you can find on an APS-C sensor. The auto focus is as good as it gets as long as you’re not using this as a sports or wildlife camera that demands perfect AF tracking. The EVF is great. The battery life is great. There’s even a built-in ND filter. I think Fuji has tried VERY hard to make sure this camera is the best camera it can be. But more importantly, it’s helping ME be the best photographer I can be. What more could you possibly expect or want from a camera?

CONCLUSION

The X100V makes me think differently about my photography. It’s small enough to take everywhere. And at $1400 MSRP it’s less expensive than my iPhone 13 Pro w/ 1TB of storage and Apple Care.

The camera is too cheap. That’s why you cannot find one. People are snapping these cameras up because it’s taking the photography world by storm. It helps photographers see the world differently. It helps photographers feel something when they are working. And that last sentence is perhaps the most important in this entire article. The X100V is a perfect tool for taking photography more seriously and emotionally. When you can tap into your feelings and then share your point of view based on those feelings, you are practicing photography at its highest level.

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*The Digital Teleconverter cannot deliver the same depth-of-field you would get on three prime lenses but it can deliver the same field of view.